The more proper name for this salad should be ‘Harvest Salad’. This will make a great starter or side salad for Thanksgiving or compliment any fall meal. While pretty basic, this sweet potato and pomegranate salad is delicious. Everything works together really well and the garlicky honey-dijon dressing pulled it together. The original salad was filled with butternut squash, which would be just as delicious, but we substituted it out for sweet potato. We were just in a sweet potato mood.
This salad brought me back to our wedding. On the night of our rehearsal dinner at Gouveia Vineyards, my aunt’s mother-in-law made a delicious spread for us to enjoy. One of those was a harvest salad filled with sweet potato, goat cheese, and pomegranate seeds. So when we saw this salad, we were filled with memories from that day.
Sweet Potato and Pomegranate Salad
I had no idea pumpkin seeds are green. They are found on the inside of those white seeds you roast when you carve a pumpkin! By simply opening up that shell, you’ll find those green seeds. Did I miss something in life? When I was quickly making this grocery list, I wrote down pumpkin seeds and picked up the ones in the white shells. When I looked back at the recipe, I saw the green seeds. Yikes! I looked up all the ways to shell a pumpkin seed. Breaking them open, boiling, and rolling them all failed me. But I could not find shelled pumpkin seeds. What I didn’t know is that shelled pumpkin seeds are also known as pepitas.
We also swapped out the pomegranate seeds for pomegranate Craisins. The seeds are hard to find unless we trek to Whole Foods. We had just come back from Whole Foods and I was too lazy to go back. They’re also expensive. So we decided to splurge on the goat cheese over the seeds. With pomegranate Craisins already on hand, it was hard to not use them. However, we added in a granny smith apple (per Chrissy’s note). This adds to the crunch element the pomegranate seeds were supposed to give.
The pepitas add so much crunch!
Toasting pepitas is really easy! When they’re sitting in the pan, some of them will jump up like popcorn kernels. I had expected those jumping seeds to turn into pumpkin popcorn!
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Sweet Potato and Pomegranate Salad
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided into 2 tbsp & 1 tbsp
- 2 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 5 cups spring mix
- 1/2 cup pomegranate Craisins or seeds
- 1 granny smith apple, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pepitas, toasted
- 1/2 small red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
- Ground pepper
- Ingredients for dressing (see the cookbook)
Directions
For the Sweet Potatoes:
- Preheat you oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil over it. Spread it around. When the oven heats up place the baking sheet in the oven for 5-8 mins. You don’t want the oil to smoke just to get it to shimmer. Our oven is small and heats up quickly so this took about 5 mins.
- In the meantime, add potatoes, the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to a large bowl. Mix until it’s all evenly coated.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and put the potatoes on the sheet. They should make the oil sizzle. Flatten them before putting back in the oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then turn them over for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool (unless you like hot sweet potatoes in your salad).
For the Pepitas:
Toasting pepitas are so easy!
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add your pepitas to the skillet and shake them every few minutes for about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and the skillet when they start to toast and turn brown.
For the Salad:
- Start with the greens.
- Add sweet potatoes, apples, and Craisins.
- Sprinkle onions and toasted pepitas.
- Layer the crumbled goat cheese on top.
- Top it off with the honey-dijon dressing. For this recipe, you’re going to have to buy Cravings 2!
